1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to automatic systems for preparing commutation tickets and the like, and, more particularly, to a type thereof whereby continued issue and automatic examination of the commutation tickets and the like can be far more facilitated than in the conventional systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, a commutation ticket has been prepared in a booking office by a person who, examining a request card prepared by a passenger, prints with rubber stamps or writes by hand on a ticket card the required data such as the starting station, the destination station, the route to be utilized, the period of validity and the issue date of the ticket, as well as the kind (for school attendance or office attendance) of the ticket, the name and age of the commuter, the fare, and so forth, based on the contents of the request card. However, while such a procedure is found to require considerable labor and time, the background job thereof such as the stock control of the ticket cards and the accounting of money and the tickets thus issued also consumes much time and labor.
Recently, plans for reduction of the labor required in and for the speeding up of booking jobs have been promoted in various fields of transportation such that not only is the time required for the booking jobs reduced, but also the service for the passengers is much improved. Along such efforts, various types of automated devices have been proposed for the preparation and issue of commutation tickets. However, even the most automated device for this purpose has been found to involve various difficulties as listed hereinbelow.
The preparation of the commutation tickets in most of the conventional devices for preparing commutation tickets has required the following steps.
1. A passenger who wants a commutation ticket is required to provide a request card containing the necessary data such as the starting station, the destination station, and so forth. PA1 2. A person in a booking office examines the contents of the request card, and inputs the required information into the commutation ticket preparing device by either depressing keys on a key board, or by transcribing the information onto a mark card from which the data can be automatically read out by a card reader and input into the ticket preparing device. PA1 3. The ticket preparing device automatically searches over data which does not vary, such as the starting station, the destination station, the route utilized, the kind of the ticket, and the period of validity thereof, which have been previously stored in the device in an electronic manner or a photographic manner thereby to find those data corresponding to the input information. The data thus found are then imprinted using an optical method or an electrostatic recording method at predetermined positions on a ticket card sequentially or simultaneously. During the above described procedures, a fare searching signal formed in accordance with these data is input to a minicomputer included in the system or to a computer in a central booking office through a data transmission line thereby to calculate the fare. The fare thus calculated is then converted into a decimal notation and printed on a predetermined position of the ticket card together with other data which varies such as the serial number of the ticket, the issue date, and the like. PA1 4. For preparing a commutation ticket adapted to be examined automatically, the ticket card after step (3) is further transferred manually or automatically into a device termed a "seal encoder". This device may be included within the system or provided separately outside of the system. When a ticket card is passed through the seal encoder, a transparent plastic film is bonded on the front face of the card, and a magnetic film is bonded on the rear face thereof in a manner in which the entire peripheral edges of the card are thereby sealed together. After completion of the sealing operation, the data required for automatic examination are recorded by the magnetic encoder on the magnetic film on the rear side of the card, so that the ticket card is now provided with a front face readable visually and the rear face readable by a machine such as an automatic ticket reader.
However, it is essential for an automatic ticket preparing system that the ticket be prepared in the shortest period of time, and the conventional system employing the seal encoder cannot meet this requirement since it consumes about twice the length of time required for preparing an ordinary commutation ticket which cannot be automatically electronically examined.
Furthermore, all of the required data must be retained until the thus sealed ticket card arrives at the magnetic recorder position, and this requires a registor which can temporarily store about 200 bits and also an electronic device for controlling the shift of the thus memorized data.
In addition, a greater part of the commutation tickets are issued for school or office commuting, and hence the tickets are of a continuing nature with only the issue date and the period of validity being changed and all of the remaining data being unchanged. No conventional commutation ticket preparing devices have ever utilized this feature, and the above described steps (1) through (3) are repeated with all the data being reintroduced either using a keyboard or by transcribing the data onto a mark card.